Dharshini Karthikeyan - Week 14 - Record, Retain, Retrieve
Have you ever spent hours pouring over a textbook for an exam just to forget everything you learned the next morning? With the AP exam season coming up in mere weeks, desperate students across American High School have subjected themselves to highlighting Princeton-review books and watching AP Daily Videos on 2x speed. Despite feeling as though you are studying when you engage in passive activities such as re-reading and watching videos, you’re really wasting your time. There are many memorization techniques that are just facades, and there are really only a few that work well.
1. Record:
While it’s easier to read a textbook and binge watch videos for your AP exam, this process won’t help you unless you take the time to re-read your textbook at least 7 times. On average, it takes 7 times of passive repetition in order to develop an understanding of the material. This is heavily time consuming and extremely boring, which is why this method gives students a false sense of confidence. In order to fully understand content the first time you learn it, students should read a chapter, close their textbooks, and try to rewrite the material they just learned without outside help. This helps you recognize your knowledge gaps, allowing you to go back and develop your understanding on topics you don’t understand with minimal repetition.
2. Retain:
After you’ve taken time to understand the material, it’s important to store it into your long term memory. A popular technique for this is spaced repetition, which is “an evidence-based learning technique in which you review material in a spaced out timeframe.” Other techniques include teaching the material to a friend, or just trying to recall information while you go about your day to day life.
3. Retrieve:
Active recall is important to ensure that you won’t forget everything you learned on test day due to stress or other extenuating factors. This can be practiced by doing past practice tests and going over quiz/test questions.
Using the 3R technique can not only minimze the time you spend studying, but it can also maximize your test scores.
Hi Dharshini! This information is helpful, especially since we only have three weeks left before AP tests. Personally, while I haven't started studying for AP tests (I really need to start), these techniques are similar to what I've used to study for tests in the past, but I never realized that there were concrete steps and instructions on how to study most effectively. I never found passive repetition to be of any use when studying for tests except if I'm just glancing over the material to refresh my memory before the test. I'm planning to start studying this weekend, and I think I'll definitely keep these tips in mind!
ReplyDeleteHi Dharshini! I love how you explained everything so in-depth. The process that our brains go through to actually remember the information that we studied earlier is quite complex. The fact that you broke it up into three distinct parts made it easier to understand. The human brain truly is the strongest computer ever. It stores so much information, it just needs a push to get it to resurface. We may think that we have completely forgotten our oldest memories, but I bet if we use the correct techniques we may be able to recall them.
ReplyDelete